The present application relates generally to the field of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) control. More specifically, the present application relates to fault detection systems and methods for self-optimizing HVAC control.
Self-optimizing control strategies are used in the field of HVAC control to optimize the performance of one or more HVAC control loops. For example, in an air-side economizer application, a damper driven by a self-optimizing control strategy is used to minimize the energy consumption of an air handling unit (AHU) by using cool outside air to cool an indoor space (e.g., when conditioning outside air is more energy efficient than cooling and conditioning recirculated air).
Component malfunctioning in self-optimized control loops can present a number of problems. For example, a faulty component utilized in a self-optimized control loop can impair functionality and lead to energy waste rather than energy savings. More particularly, in the air-side economizer example, damper malfunctioning prevents acceptable air handling unit (AHU) operation. Damper faults include failed actuator, damper obstruction, de-coupled linkage, and other errors.
What is needed is a system and method for detecting faults in HVAC systems using self-optimizing control strategies.